Author's Note: As promised, here is Chapter Fourteen of A Tale of Two Princesses! Annnnd HAPPY BIRTHDAY to this story. Is it weird for me to celebrate this story's birthday? I'm mostly celebrating because it's officially a year since I began posting this story, and unlike most of my fanfiction stories, I'M STILL WRITING THIS ONE (instead of abandoning it)!
As I am celebrating this story's birthday, I really would just like to thank all of the readers of this story. I honestly don't think that I would have half of the motivation to actually write this story without all of the encouragement that I receive from all of you. Reviews, Alerts, and even watching my Story Stats make me so excited because I know that people are reading this story. So thank you, thank you, thank you for all of your support and enthusiasm for this story.
So before I let you read this chapter, I have a couple of shout-outs, like always. First and foremost, shout-out to RandomButLoved, who is my incredible beta reader. Believe me. You probably wouldn't have read this far into this story without their help. And second, I'd like to give a shout-out to MyHikari and my "Guest" reviewers for reviewing Chapter Thirteen! Thank you for your feedback! :)
Enough rambling...here's Chapter Fourteen! :)
"Did you see what happened before I got there?" Clara asked Roland as they wandered back into the ballroom, their arms linked together. The events of the night had been more exciting than usual for Clara, and the previous moments with her sister were enough to almost send her into a panic. There seemed to have been very little that she could do about that situation, even with Roland at her side.
Roland shook his head, lips pursed together. "I really didn't see all that much," he explained. "I could tell there was tension though. They seemed to be quite startled when I called out to them."
Clara pursed her lips too. "Maybe Kath will tell me later tonight…I hope that she's okay."
"There you two are!" the queen exclaimed when the newly engaged couple entered the ballroom again, eyes filled with concern when she saw the looks on her daughter and soon-to-be-son-in-law's faces. The conversation between the young couple quickly faded as the queen approached them. "We've been looking for you. Do you know where your sister went?" she asked, looking at Clara.
"She didn't feel very good, so she went back to our room to lie down," Clara told her mother smoothly, unsure of what else to say other than some form of the truth. Kath really didn't look like she felt very good, so she wasn't lying.
Isabelle's face fell. "Should I send someone to check on her?"
The princess shook her head. "She'll be fine. I think she was just tired. It's been a full day, after all," Clara explained.
"That it has," the queen agreed, a smile plastered on her face. "Guests have already been asking me when the date of the wedding will be so that they can be sure to be here," she continued, leading the way back up toward the front of the ballroom, where the thrones were placed. "Your father and I have already answered a million questions about the wedding—most of which we have made up answers too. You'd think people would give you at least a couple hours of being engaged before they start asking about every detail on the wedding."
Roland and Clara exchanged worried looks. "There's a lot more to planning a wedding than what you think," the queen told them both, a grin on her face.
"I feel like this is going to be a very long night," Roland mumbled to his fiancée as the queen began to lead them around to speak with various ecstatic members of the kingdom.
Kath's eyes filled with tears as soon as the door of her bedroom closed behind her. What had happened between her and Vincent? Would he ever speak to her again? Would he tell other people that she had slapped him? What would her parents do if they found out their daughter had attacked someone from another kingdom? Was attacked the right word to use?
The princess slowly made her way to her bed and sat down on the edge, staring at the books that lay on the end table next to her bed. Lying on the top of the stack was the book she had been talking about with Vincent. She had just finished it a few nights ago, and hadn't taken it back to the library yet. She picked it up, and gave the worn cover a watery smile. Her fingers found a random page in the book, and she opened it up to begin rereading the book she had fallen in love with.
"What are you doing in here? I demand to be released at once!"
Elsa made eye-contact with the prince, who she recognized from her days as a peasant girl in the capitol city. He used to go riding every Tuesday afternoon, and she would stand outside of her father's bakery, waiting to watch him soar past on his large, white horse. Through the dust that would be kicked up, she would search for his figure, and her heart had fluttered every time she saw his approaching figure.
"Hello," Elsa said, using the deeper voice that she had taught herself to use. "My name's Peter," she added, hoping that the prince would respond positively to kindness.
The prince looked the young pirate up and down, an inquisitive look on his face. "I'm Nathan," he finally said, then smiled. "But I suppose you already know that."
Elsa felt her heart flutter in that familiar way when Nathan grinned. "I did," she admitted with a shrug. She smiled back at him, and realized she had just spoken in her normal voice.
The prince's eyes narrowed as he stared at the girl, and he once again scanned her body. Peter was small for a pirate, even if he was young. And his voice apparently hadn't dropped yet, though most boys had gone through those changes by the time they reached the age Peter seemed to be at.
"Umm…" Elsa said, deciding to interrupt Nathan's thoughts before he could give too much thought to her own seeming abnormalities. "I brought you some supper," she stated. The way she said it sounded much more like she had just realized that she held a bowl in her hand filled with cold soup.
"You did," Prince Nathan said, giving her a nod. He looked back at her, and as he looked into her eyes, a realization hit him. "You're—"
Elsa cut him off, talking quickly. "Here's your food. Enjoy it! G-Good-bye!" she said quickly, as she began to leave.
"Wait!" Prince Nathan said quickly before Elsa climbed back up the ladder to the upper deck. Elsa stopped, but refused to turn back around to look into Nathan's hazel eyes. "You never untied my arms. I can't eat this soup unless you untie me. Or you can feed it to me…" he added. Elsa could hear the cheek in his voice.
The disguised girl turned around, and made a face at Nathan. "You're lucky I even brought you that food. The rest of the pirates wanted to starve you!" she told him, giving him a glare.
"Well, then I thank you for your generosity, my lady," Nathan replied slyly.
"Well, you're welcome, Prince Nathan!" Elsa snapped back. She stopped when she realized what he had said. Looking around, she quickly crouched down next to him, where she could whisper and have him still hear her over the sounds of the crew moving on the upper deck. "What did you call me?" she hissed, pulling a dagger from her belt to hold to the prince's throat.
"Woah!" Nathan said, pulling back from Elsa's blade. "No need for weaponry right now!" Elsa continued to glare at him, not moving the blade. "You're the girl from the market. You used to stand outside the bakery. I saw you there every Tuesday."
Stunned, Elsa pulled her blade back. How had Prince Nathan noticed her among the rest of the peasants? Wasn't she just another face to the supposedly stuck-up prince? And how in the world could he recognize her when she looked like a boy?
"What's your real name?" he questioned, staring her in the eye. Elsa recognized an honest curiosity in the prince's eyes when he spoke. "And what are you doing here?"
"My name is Elsa," she whispered, glancing over her shoulder toward the ladder that led to the upper deck. "None of them know who I really am. You can't let them know, either. I'll be forced to walk the plank."
Nathan smiled at her. "I wouldn't dream of it. How could I rat out the girl that I used to look forward to seeing every week?"
Elsa looked up, shocked. "What?" she questioned, her eyes narrowing in confusion once again at the prince. What was he talking about?
"Peter, what are you doing down here?" old Regan, the ship's captain, asked his favorite crew member from the top of the ladder. "We told you to give the prisoner his food and come back up here!"
"Sorry, Captain!" Elsa quickly apologized, remembering to use her deeper tone despite her brain's sudden frazzle. "I was just giving Nath—um—the prisoner some food. We can't starve our prisoners, right Captain?"
Captain Regan eyed Elsa, not quite believing her story. "Whatever. Henry's looking for you. He wants you to help him with fixing one of the tears in the sails. Since you're so little and have some skill with the needle, you're the best one to do it."
"Yes, Captain!" Elsa said quickly, standing up. She didn't notice that she hadn't put the dagger back into her belt, and Nathan grabbed it quickly before Captain Regan noticed the forgotten dagger on the floor either. The captain climbed up the ladder once more, and Elsa turned back toward Nathan once more before following the captain. She gave him a quick smile that he returned before going about her duties on the upper deck.
Kath sighed after closing her book. Her sobs had subsided, and she could breathe normally once more. Reading always calmed her down when she was upset, no matter what she was upset about. She decided to allow herself an early bedtime since her day had been so eventful, and the princess walked to her closet to undress herself.
The princess clumsily pulled her foot up, and began to try to pry her slipper off her foot when she felt herself lose her balance. Normally she had either Clara or one of their maids there to assist her in undressing after a ball, so her clumsiness came from lack of experience with taking off her formal clothes on her own.
After hopping several times in an attempt to regain her balance, Kath squeaked as she began to teeter, and she eventually crashed into her stack of shoes in the back of her closet that had been collecting dust for several years. Suppressing a giggle, the princess began to attempt to pull herself back up from the pile of shoes when she noticed one of her old boots with a piece of parchment sticking out of it.
"What's this?" she asked herself quietly, pulling the parchment from the shoe and unrolling it as she reclined in the pile of shoes. After staring at her scribbles for several seconds, the princess recognized the map that she had made years before when planning her adventure with Clara. She smiled at her own childishness from the past, when she dreamed of adventures, before her face shifted to one of realization.
"I'm going to go on an adventure," she said to herself quietly. Grinning, she shifted her body around until she was standing once more. Running out of her closet, she looked outside to see that snow had begun to fall outside on the cold, winter night. Before leaving her room, the princess grabbed her cloak, and scurried to the door. Grinning she made her way through the empty hallways, the happier moments from her past came alive once more to finish off her night with adventure.
Author's Note: Uh oh...Kath's going to be getting into some trouble. Guess we'll see where Anna and Elsa got it from. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Stay tuned for Chapter Fifteen, where you'll get to see what kind of trouble the lovely Princess Katherine is getting herself into, and you'll also get an update on how Clara and Roland's night is going. Thank you so much for reading! I don't know if I can say thank you enough times to actually be able to express how thankful I really am. You guys are awesome! :)